MBunge I would describe this film as a cross between a Bing Crosby/Bob Hope road movie and a Cheech and Chong drug flick, except that makes Highway sound much, much better than it is. This aimless, half formed effort takes a bunch of talented actors and then has them do nothing of any importance or relevance. The story is a bunch of arbitrarily connected episodes that unspool into an ending that flies in the face of logic and common sense. The characters are cartoonishly exaggerated. The direction is utterly unremarkable, save for the inexplicable use of slow motion at seemingly random moments.The alleged heroes of this tale are Jack Hayes (Jared Leto) and Pilot Kelson (Jake Gyllenhaal). Jack is a walking penis who, despite having lots and lots of sex, hasn't had an orgasm in 5 years. Pilot is an awkward, virginal drug dealer who actually seems more out of it sober than he does stoned. The two are childhood friends who grew up in Las Vegas and appear to have stopped their emotional development at the age of 11.After Jack gets caught screwing a rich man's wife, he and Pilot flee to Seattle to avoid the rich man's thugs breaking Jack's feet. They have various misadventures along the way, such as picking up a beautiful but tough hitchhiker named Cassie (Selma Blair) that Jack falls in love with, teaming up with a 40something, omnipurpose, counter-culture drug dealer named Johnny the Fox (John C. McGinley) and checking out an alligator boy, before arriving in Seattle during the vigil for the recently suicided Kurt Kobain.As those and other sadly contrived plot developments are unrolled, we also get a bunch of characterization in Jack and Pilot that arrives out of nowhere, amounts to nothing and then vanishes into the ether. It's like the movie is trying to hint at the supposed deep and profound friendship between our two lead characters and how it's being tested in this journey. Which isn't a bad idea…but writer Scott Rosenberg and director James Cox handle it with all the subtlety of an overcooked bean burrito.The only honest enjoyment to be found in Highway is in the performance of the cast. They're playing people who are stupid, annoying and contemptible but it's still fun to watch the energy and effort they put into them. It's a little like smelling something so foul that you're impressed by how much you're repulsed. Jeremy Piven, in particular, almost gives himself a stroke as Pilot's colossally over-the-top drug connection.There are a very few moments when Highway flirts with running completely off the rails and becoming a surrealistic farce. If it had gone that direction, maybe it would have mutated into something worth seeing. However, the movie always falls back into its own poorly conceived and executed simulation of reality.Highway is the type of film that merits nothing more than a shrug. It's clear what the filmmakers are trying to do and very clear that they're not doing it all that well. Unless you're already high as a kite and capable of delighting in anything that moves and makes noise, take a pass on this movie.

Shane Brown So here we are, 1994. A particularly grim time in the eyes of most Americans. This film and its emphasis on the 'Grunge Scene' seem at first, heavily asserted; at its core however, Highway is a much more personal buddy film which formidably tackles much more 'people' issues rather than issues concerning society. One cannot ignore the talent displayed in acting so dramatically suited to this film and its setting. Blair does her role justice, her 'shrouded past' is aptly suited to her almost faceless, masked characteristics. McGinley likewise takes on his wacky, very eccentric role well. It is the chemistry between Jared Leto and Jake Gyllenhaal however that gives this film a serious purpose. You know when you were 16 and your best friend hooked up with that girl you'd been talking to for months on end after he'd talked to her very briefly? That friend is Jared Leto, who's 'God of ****' is exactly what it says on the tin (the lucky bastard). Gyllenhaal then is Letos Watson to his Holmes or perhaps his Robin to his Batman. Gay undertones aside, Gyllenhalls spacey 'Pilot' bounces off of Letos Jack wonderfully, creating genuinely likable and different characters.As for the film as a work, directing is up to scratch, Cox has done a fine job in capturing the 90s grunge movement (if such bland circumstances are in fact possible to capture)and really shines where humour in the film is presented with a basic 'if it's funny, the camera will be all over the bloody shot' theory. Flashbacks are seamlessly weaved in to the plot in order to create depth to Jack and Pilot whilst the sheer scale of the boys' adventure is never really enforced, possibly appropriately.Highway succeeds in presenting us with a touching if slightly unoriginal best friend/jealousy tale, the acting shines through in this as we are constantly reminded (often through Gyllenhaal's pondering) that these characters have absolutely no idea what they are doing. It fails however in really asserting the whole grunge theme it is supposed to portray, visually it does this, but in content Cobain's death is a minor occurrence as is the rest of the world outside of a friendship. Deliberate or not, this message is presented in an upbeat and beautifully acted out way.7/10

drspookyfox This is a well-acted and perfectly cast movie about a bunch of people on the outskirts of life whose mistakes carry them in the same direction: Seattle. You may not feel deeply enlightened when it's over, but you will have a bunch of laughs on the way. I don't know what happened to this film... it just slipped through the cracks and so everyone passes it off as uninteresting, but I rather thought it was one of those overlooked jewels you are glad to have discovered. The characters are eminently likable and have those appropriate, somewhat subdued emotional journeys that give the film it's real direction. Without a doubt worth the rent.

bruguerran OK, so it ain't precisely Oscar or golden globe material, but I have to admit this movie was really fun to watch (even though it is supposed to be drama you can get a really good laugh out of it) specially at the beginning. if you don't like dirty humor and don't tolerate watching the lead of the movie do drugs and have a nice time, then you shouldn't watch this. What I didn't like much about this movie was the part with alligator boy, it kind of disappointed me, even though it had a nice closure, still I don't know, they could've worked it better. At the end, I DO recommend this movie to everyone who's stoned, likes nirvana, likes road trips, or is just bored of classic movies where everybody lives happily ever after, =)